What is a Lord British “Ultimate” Role Playing Game?
It Begins Before Personal Computers

I was attempting to make the “Ultimate” Role Playing Game before they were called Ultima and will continue long after they have been called Ultima.

I began my pursuit of creating the “Ultimate” Role Playing Game (Ultimate RPG) around 1974 while in high school. It’s been 36 years but it feels like yesterday. 1974 was an auspicious year for me. In 1974 my sister-in-law gave me a copy of The Lord of the Rings, the first fantasy fiction I had ever read, and I was instantly hooked. Soon after, I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons which had just been released. I quickly built one of the earliest and largest gaming groups which brought together 30-100 people most every Friday and Saturday for all night gaming sessions in many rooms throughout my parent’s home in Houston. My English reports in school became fictional fantasy writings about my first fantasy world Sosaria, the basis of my D&D campaigns, as well as many of my computer games. Finally, still years before the personal computer showed up on the scene, I discovered a lone computer teletype terminal, unused by any class at the time. I convinced the faculty to let me have my own class, with no teacher or plan, other than to teach myself how to program on it, and show them the results of my work for a grade and count it as my foreign language credit. Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) is a foreign language to most people! Right? J When the school agreed, my quest for the Ultimate RPG began in earnest! My quest continues to this day.

The first generations of my games were called D&D 1-28. These were games written on the schools teletype, stored on paper tape spools and run via an acoustic modem running on a distant PDP 11. They used alpha numeric characters for graphics. “A” was a giant ant, “$” was a treasure chest yet it was unmistakably, an Ultima-like Ultimate RPG attempt, with text characters instead of the later familiar tile graphics. Graphic style is not the essential element of an Ultimate RPG.

The First Grand Era of Games – Solo Player Games

My first commercial game, one of the first commercial computer games ever, was Akalabeth. When the Apple ][ arrived on the scene, finally I could create my games with real time graphics! Fully realized 3D dungeons joined the top down outdoor scenes. Deep down this game was clearly rooted in the history of the 28 previous “D&D” games I wrote. Akalabeth was not made to be published. I made it merely for myself and my friends. It was John Mayer the manager of the Computerland store where I had a summer job, who encouraged me to spend the large sum (in those days for a high school senior) of $200 to “publish” it on the store wall.

Within a few weeks, a company called California Pacific got a hold an early copy of Akalabeth and called me to say they wanted to distribute the game nationally! The the company’s president, Al Remmers, suggested we drop Richard Garriott as the author and replace it with my more memorable in-game character, Lord British. This ended up being more than just a quirky use of a pen name on the package. Lord British is me, as both the creator and as a resident representing the creation to the player from within the game. I joined and shared the experience alongside the player, something which would prove more valuable over time. Participating in the world alongside you, is a valuable part of an Ultimate RPG.

{Trivia – Softalk Magazine ran a contest “Who is the real Lord British” wondering if it might be a person who lived in Los Angeles, named Beth… Also-Known-As-LA-Beth -> Akalabeth!}

Ultimas I, II & III – Learning to Craft a Game and a World

With the success of Akalabeth, I decided to start fresh with my first work intending it for public consumption. I began a game originally entitled Ultimatum! Built on much of the same code base as Akalabeth, it continued to refine the Richard Garriott virtual world building techniques. The game maps were largely based on the D&D worlds I created called Sosaria. When finished, we launched it under the name Ultima. The tile graphic world would become common and a useful tool in Ultimas to facilitate the detailed world interactions where you could touch and interact with everything you saw, not just the monsters that were pivotal to my design philosophy. Detailed world interactions are part of the essence of Ultimate RPG.

As a student of these great works of Tolkien and Gygax, I devoted even my earliest works to the creation of a reality deeper than merely fighting monsters, collecting treasure and leveling up, which was and has remained the mainstay of most every RPG experience! Complete histories, languages and writing scripts defined even these early attempts at an Ultimate RPG. Cultural history, unique languages and writing are part of the Ultimate RPG.

Ultima ][ introduced time travel. The past, present and future game play needed a familiar setting, so Earth became the playground of Ultima ][. Ultima comfortably embraced concepts as far flung as dinosaurs and space ships. Ultima ]I[ went back to Sosaria. The Ultimate RPG can live in many worlds and settings.

Ultima ][ was also one of the first games in the industry every shipped in a box, rather than a zip lock bag. After the collapse of California Pacific, numerous publishers were interested in publishing the next game in an already popular series. But when most heard my demands for a box, a cloth map and fictionally written manuals, their interest quickly faded. I believe that this devotion to making the game experience begin with the materials you had in hand, which grew to include, tarot cards, coins, amulets, magic stones and many other objects greatly deepened the bond between the player and the reality of the new world. Physical game components can deeply enrich a virtual world.

Ultima ]I[ was the first game we published through my own firm, Origin. This created another important opportunity in the quest for the Ultimate RPG. For the first time I received letters directly from you, the players. We began to form a relationship. I knew what you liked, hated and/or disagreed with or even missed what I had intended in a particular design. This created a deep personal introspection about my work, its content and its meaning.

The feedback and criticism I have received along this journey has been crucial to the crafting of the Ultimate RPG, and I continue to enjoy the direct connection I have with y’all, via social media, face to face at trade shows and my favorite…snail mail. When anyone has ever completed one of my games since Ultima III, they have always been told to “Report thy feat to Lord British.” And when people did, often in the secret languages of the games, I tried to respond to each one personally as well! Let’s keep that dialog going! Connecting with the audience is essential in crafting the Ultimate RPG.

With Ultima IV I began my first strong effort to craft a unique world not drawn on movies, books or other games to the degree I had in my previous work. Thus the first incarnation of Britannia was born. Originality in world crafting became an important element to my designs, as did the social and virtuous context of the stories found within the game. I became a student of story crafting and the works of Joseph Campbell. Living and playing through detailed realistic worlds with stories about virtue and social issues, became the central essence of my Ultimate RPG.

Ultima V and VI continued in this vein. Reflecting to the player the results of their deeds is as important in an interactive story as it is in any linear story. It must touch the reader / player at a deep personal level to be compelling and relevant! Holding a mirror up to yourself is part of an Ultimate RPG.

While portals from Earth to my worlds were common—something I borrowed from my readings of the Chronicles of Narnia—it became essential starting with Ultima IV. In theory playing a role playing game as Conan the Barbarian is fine, but your success should be judged on how well you embody the beliefs of Conan. In Grand Theft Auto, you should be judged on how good of a thug you are. Since my story was intended to be the story of YOUR PERSONAL evolution as a person, it was important that you were you, not someone else! Fiction supporting your journey from Earth to the new world is part of The Ultimate RPG.

Ultima VII-IX – Unique & Internal Consistent Fiction

In Ultima VII, for the first time, I actually believed and planned on there being a game after the one I was working on, and thus planned characters and stories that would transcend a single game for the first time. While Ultima VII continued deepening the stories in Britannia, Ultima VIII explored a new realm with Pagan, and we concluded the trilogy of trilogies back in Britannia with Ultima IX.

In each of these games since Ultima IV, I have carefully removed overused and often plagiarized standard RPG elements like orcs and elves and instead tried to create a new, fully realized world of my own that had a sense of deep history and self-consistency. Anything that was not justified by the new reality was removed. And new items were fully researched and justified. An original deep and consistent world is a critical part of the Ultimate RPG.

Far too often in magic and science fiction, a bad storyteller will solve the final problem with the last minute discovery of an unknown mystical power. This is just as bad as the adventure games I learned to dislike. In those games, unless you could guess that the designer thought it would be funny to only let you get past the yeti by throwing a cream pie in his face, the game was otherwise unsolvable. And so in the mid-numbered Ultimas I refined the designs of internally consistent pseudo science and magical concepts from reagents to linguistics. Logically constructed internally consistent fiction is part of an Ultimate RPG.

The Second Grand Era of Games – Massively Multiplayer

Starting with Ultima III, Ultimas regularly simulated multiplayer designs by providing you an artificial Non Player Character (NPC) party of friends to “share” the experience. {Trivia: Ultima III’s working title was Ultima 3D/4P. It was played in 3D dungeons with a party of four players, all of them operated by the one real person at the keyboard.} True multiplayer connectivity and richly detailed and varying interconnected roles were the chief contributions of Ultima Online! Multiplayer was a great boon to game play and popularity, but a great challenge from storytelling standpoint. Multiplayer is desirable and very challenging in any Ultimate RPG.

While there have been multiplayer games since the advent of computers, and Multi-User-Dungeons (MUDs) for many years, and the AOL dial up service and Bulletin Board Services (BBS) hosted numerous large multiplayer fantasy games, Ultima Online is regularly recognized as the first major success of the Massively Multiplayer Games era. Much to the dismay of some of those important earlier creators from whose work I learned and whose employees often joined my team, I am often referred to as the father of online gaming. A title I am very proud of in spite of the objections!

For the last decade most of the growth in the games space has been in the MMO space. While this has represented a great economic opportunity, it has also been a great creative challenge. Many players lament the story telling setback of the MMO era, where they are no longer the singular hero on the singular journey to ultimate personal success for themselves and the whole world. Yet I remain convinced, the Ultimate RPG can be made in the MMO medium.

Alongside the great challenge of making you feel ultimately unique, MMOs provide great player-to-player bonds that go far beyond what can be accomplished in a solo player game. I remember the depth of these bonds as players who met in the game got married in real life and people who died in the real world were deeply mourned and celebrated by their online friends whom they may never have met face-to-face. The power of real face-to-face interaction should not be passed over easily in the quest for the Ultimate RPG.

Most MMOs, like most solo player games, are not Ultimate RPGs, they have devolved into level grinds in beautiful but generic fantasy or sci-fi settings. While sales may be great, the Ultimate RPG is far from these examples.

Since I am no longer at the helm of UO, let’s look at where it has gone in my absence. Elves and ninjas have been added into the game, things I specifically had banned. This is only a small example of why and how Ultima has drifted away from Richard Garriott, but I have not drifted away from Ultima. Overused, irrelevant & reused RPG elements are not the essence of my Ultimate RPG.

It is clear to me that I, Richard Garriott, am an essential ingredient of at least the Ultimate Ultima, if not more broadly the Ultimate RPG. Perhaps one day, now that the people who pushed me out of EA more than a decade ago are long since gone, EA will recognize that together, we could rebuild that franchise in a way that they have failed to do in the intervening years. Richard Garriott is an essential ingredient in the Ultimate Ultima!

Now I wish I could still build in the previous world of Old Britannia. Yet until the powers at Electronic Arts see the wisdom of such a collaboration (some there do, and player pressure could help), I must plan to rebuild in a New Britannia. While in some ways it will mean I have more work to do (and you will have to wait longer to see that new world), the truth is I have lived in that world for more than 20 of my 35 years in game development, rebuilt many new worlds and look forward to the challenge of crafting this newest reality.

I would argue that Tabula Rasa strove to be a worthy Ultimate RPG. While the game was set in a new world, with new ideals, it attempted to live up to the above ideals. While we may have fallen short in some areas, I hope most can see that was our goal and we might have reached it in time. While it included real time combat, so had many Ultimas. Also, it was a future setting, as were many Ultimas. As I have said before many play styles and settings can be part of the Ultimate RPG.

The Third Grand Era of Games – Social & Mobile gaming

Today, with my new company Portalarium, and with the talents and skills of many who made Ultima an Ultimate RPG, we set forth to forge a “New Britannia,” a new world from scratch, internally self-consistent, deep and refined. We have lofty goals as an Ultimate RPG. An Ultimate RPG does not fear going where others fear or have failed.

Few believed I would find success during the years I took to craft Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar and its deeply introspective plot. Fewer yet believed in “MUltima” when we began that design journey, and it opened the doors to the MMO space. Many traditional gamers are concerned about the growth of the new social and mobile gaming and its impact on games with meaning and depth. They are doubtful that this era will provide them the Ultimate RPG experience they crave. But this new era has unearthed some powerful new tools that add to the value of an Ultimate RPG.

For example, let’s look at two hypothetical versions of Ultima Online. Version A is the version that was shipped. You drive to the store to buy it, pay $50, drive home, go through a lengthy install, subscribe for $10+ / month, create a character, get dropped into the virtual world, and about 4 hours later, you have explored the game far enough to know it’s amazing. Now imagine version B of the same game. You receive a link from a friend and click on it. You start to play immediately for free. The install and intro to the game has been written in a way that you understand the game within minutes…not hours. After you have played long enough to know it’s worth the money, you are asked to pay by whatever method you find acceptable. I would argue that with these otherwise identical games, version B would totally dominate, because it was in fact a better game and better game experience.

There are staggeringly important new features unearthed by some of the early movers in this space. Powerful new asynchronous tools allow friends in the real world to aid each other and “play” together without being forced to play online at the same time every day or risk falling out of the leveling curve and ultimately losing the ability to play with friends. Instead of paying huge upfront costs, it is better to let players try before they buy, and for those who wish to play for free, it’s fair to ask them to help you bring others to the game in return for continued free play. Proper social tools are compatible with the Ultimate RPG.

So when traditional gamers look at all the “Ville” clones out there in the world, take heart! See not what is popular now, but rather what is happening in this new era that also would benefit them! A great game, like a great movie, need not be inaccessible to the masses. Great story and depth need not come at the cost of up front effort, pain and cost. Free to play does not mean the game has to be riddled with advertising and calls to spam your friends. But, for those unwilling or unable to pay fairly for what they now play, asking them to work for the developer and find us players is not unfair. Great games can and will be made in this new era, to the benefit of all, traditional and new players. We intend to be a leading maker of such games.

I continue to debate how much of the new world designs to discuss in public as we work. Some part of me wants the new direction to be as new as possible to you when it arrives fully realized. Another angle is that this world will ultimately be your world, and player participation could both help me in its crafting as well as clearly communicate its depth long before its ready. So, we will see. Likely a mix of secrecy and sharing will be the right path to tread.

Here is what I feel is safe to say: Lord British’s Ultimate Role Playing Game, which may be called “Akalabeth” or may be called “New Britannia” or may be called “a name I cannot yet say as it describes the setting I am considering and think I should keep secret at least until I know if it’s likely true,” will be an Ultimate RPG. You will have customized Avatar homesteads and real roles to play in a deep, beautifully realized highly interactive virtual world. It will have virtues and the hero’s journey reflected back to the player. It will have the best of synchronous and asynchronous features in use. Fiction will support your arrival from earth into this new world. I even hope to make maps, coins and other trinkets available to players of the game.

But, please be understanding. It took 25 years to craft all the detail in Ultima. The new world will start smaller, thinner and lighter. It will have fewer features than some or most MMOs. Critical elements of the story I have just told may be missing upon launch. But fear not, this is where we are headed. Come play with us in the brave new world. Help us grow it. Teach us about what you have learned in your years of playing. Invite in your new friends who are new to gaming. They will be a new spirit and provide new ideas about what to do. They will likely not tolerate bad instructions, bad interface or huge upfront fees, which is a good thing! We will teach and learn from them as well.

I hope you will support and join us in the creation of the best ever “Ultimate” Role Playing Game!

Thanks to you,

Lord British
a.k.a. Dr. Richard Garriott de Cayeux

Now for the second thing, if you notice UO had been forgotten.. Massive Online Gamer 2011 Readers' Choice Awards It looks like our game has fallen off the charts to even be noticed anymore. So I say we start an write in campaign to get UO noticed again. Make them realize we are still here and a good game. What do you think?

Stratics VeteranAlumniStratics Legend

Building upon the foundation laid by such great games as EverQuest, Asheron's Call, and Ultima Online, the game features 3D-accelerated graphics with movable camera, multiple class and race combinations, and has built in and balanced team Player vs. Player (PvP). Unlike its predecessors, in Camelot, PvP conflict is an integral part of a player's experience in the world, not an afterthought.

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So UO is mentioned quite a bit more then most people know. It's getting the players is the issue. So would RG new game that will come out hurt or help the current UO? That question is left unanswered but there are many fans of his that still play the current UO. Makes you go hmmmmmmm.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Also on the Massively poll: its best MMO of 2011 gaming so while games like EVE are included, I would attribute that to the upswing they had this year as well. UO is not forgotten, not by a long shot

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I just thought wouldn't it be great if Everyone on Stratics went to the Massively pole and put UO as a write in vote. A game that many people thought died a long time ago would get some free press and it would let people know that the is still around. Who knows it may even catch the editors eye and they might write a piece on UO.

Stratics Veteran

Nostalgia is a very powerful thing. You announce that UO is bringing back RG into the fold (or just for the Ultima Franchise in general, including UO)- you will see a massive flood of people returning to the game.....

And if the changes/direction is worthy... they will stay...

World of Warcraft has lost over 1 million subscribers this years. Now would be a great time to pull them into UO......

Stratics VeteranSupporterStratics Legend

Also may be worth noting that WoW has gone F2P.
Ok only till lvl 20 but still this is WoW, a big cash cow and even they see that to get new players these days you can't charge them straight off the bat.
You need to entice them into the game and for one of the big ones to see F2P is the way forward just shows that their is a huge 'swing' in how new players chose an MMO today. :whip:

Since I am no longer at the helm of UO, let’s look at where it has gone in my absence. Elves and ninjas have been added into the game, things I specifically had banned. This is only a small example of why and how Ultima has drifted away from Richard Garriott, but I have not drifted away from Ultima. Overused, irrelevant & reused RPG elements are not the essence of my Ultimate RPG.

Many of these elements were considerably more spell-destroying for me than ninjas could ever hope to be.

Remember that ninjas existed during the Middle Ages, they just didn't exist in Europe. I also am informed by the Wikipedia (for whatever that's worth, if anything) that King Edward Longshanks of England once fought with, and took out, a member of a group of what amounted to Arabic ninjas known as assassins. (Presumably, this group is where we get the English words assassin and assassination.)

(I)n May 1272 Hugh III of Cyprus, who was the nominal king of Jerusalem, signed a ten–year truce with Baibars.[54] Edward was initially defiant, but an attack by a Muslim assassin in June forced him to abandon any further campaigning. Although he managed to kill the assassin, he was struck in the arm by a dagger feared to be poisoned, and became severely weakened over the following months.

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Assuming this is true, of course, I have not checked the Wikipedia's source, this is the kind of thing that some might say is spell-destroying if it would have appeared in UO (Lord British vs. Ninja!), but it happened.

I personally think its a great read from Richard Garriot that still shows how much he loves RPG's and still screams about how he loves Ultima, Sosaria and Britannia even to this day over 20 years after he started creating them.

I hope to god that EA recognise that he could bring us back to a good era in UO and that he would be good for the game. HOWEVER no banning of elves Lord British. They are here now so work with them! The same goes with Ninjas, no point removing something that a huge chunk of players have - though it would rid the world of the Sampire being the "uber" template

World of Warcraft has lost over 1 million subscribers this years. Now would be a great time to pull them into UO......

Then again, EA doesn't want to compete with the release of SW:TOR

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I see no possibility that UO in its present form could large-scale compete with either of those games. The client of UO (and the resulting combat style) isn't the right type, the class/abilities design isn't the right type, the process of moving from low-powered character to high-powered isn't the right type, and the in-game customer service isn't sufficient to retain this type of customer.

I feel like I see in my mind a form of UO that would. Some of the present UO players would like it, some wouldn't touch it, but the players of the afore-mentioned games would get quite an experience and yeah at its core would still be the strengths of what Ultima Online is. It would take a lot more money than the pocket change currently being sent UO's way to realize such a game...

Stratics Veteran

Remember that ninjas existed during the Middle Ages, they just didn't exist in Europe. I also am informed by the Wikipedia (for whatever that's worth, if anything) that King Edward Longshanks of England once fought with, and took out, a member of a group of what amounted to Arabic ninjas known as assassins. (Presumably, this group is where we get the English words assassin and assassination.)

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You and wikipedia are correct. There was a group of muslims known as assassins that did exist during the crusades. They were a cross between ninjas, suicide bombers and hippies (they were induced to do things using psychedelic drugs). They were also one of the most feared religious minority groups and would work for whoever paid them. They are also the source for the word assassin and assassination.

Stratics Veteran

You and wikipedia are correct. There was a group of muslims known as assassins that did exist during the crusades. They were a cross between ninjas, suicide bombers and hippies (they were induced to do things using psychedelic drugs). They were also one of the most feared religious minority groups and would work for whoever paid them. They are also the source for the word assassin and assassination.

now that the people who pushed me out of EA more than a decade ago are long since gone, EA will recognize that together, we could rebuild that franchise in a way that they have failed to do in the intervening years. Richard Garriott is an essential ingredient in the Ultimate Ultima!

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This comes to me as a slap in the face to stratics, EA and even the current dev team.

My jaw dropped when I saw that you shared it Airmid.

This is what I have been saying for 2 years now, and everyone told me I was crazy and ignored me.

Stratics Veteran

Since I am no longer at the helm of UO, let’s look at where it has gone in my absence. Elves and ninjas have been added into the game, things I specifically had banned. This is only a small example of why and how Ultima has drifted away from Richard Garriott, but I have not drifted away from Ultima. Overused, irrelevant & reused RPG elements are not the essence of my Ultimate RPG.

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RIP classic shard

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Its very hard to define "classic", and there are some elements present today that I am still very interested in beyond their ability to satisfy a need for "pixil crack".

More to RG's point, I think the inclusion of elves, ninjas, and samurais is not "bad" unless there is a gross lack of energy expended to support the addition. Heartwood, if you like elves, should be a place where you could go and spend hours just wandering around. And it definitely is not. While many players enjoy, I mean really really enjoy playing someone who crafts, we just don't have a system that makes playing that way look attractive, special materials just don't seem to "make sense" (Which RG, to his credit, lists as a key component in crafting [pun fully intended] an immersive world that players can share a love for) On that note the recipe system is actually highly restricted, and has never been expanded, even though we have a bulk order deed system badly in need of a revamp to continue to have any value at all. Of course, there is a fine line to defining the world through design, just enough to grab players, and over defining to the point where a player will feel constrained. Sometimes a hero is most defined by what they cannot do.

Most of all there is a lack of lore, we have managed to kill or banish most all of the traditional "villains" from the Ultima universe, and even introduced a voice like the guardians in blackrock infection, but blackrock infection has gone away, and the introduction to a gargoyle world has left us with more underdeveloped critters, race abilities that remain mysterious to most, gargish books printed in english, and a never ending desire for "stuff" that lets "my character" dominate in his or her virtual world.

I remember, not long after I joined my first guild, Trinsic had been "cleansed" and I,a warrior who walked most everywhere I went(and died no small amount of times because of that fact) was taken on a gated tour of all the cities in Sosaria. My question to my VGM at the end of that investment of time in revisiting lots of places I had already been to in stand alone games was, "So, to what task do we set ourselves now, my liege?"
The answer I got was, "Well, we play the game." It made me sad, and it still does. I want more story. I want a reason to not "group", but to gather people together towards some purpose that doesn't end in an intershard auction, but a token, hard fought for and earned that would grace some small display of a guilds accomplishments.

We have huge, no vast, areas of landmass. Yet in reality, even after fourteen years, we have barely scratched into the surface of interactivity with the world. People used to have governments, what if those bodies had actual purpose. People used to follow the virtues, what if having virtue(s) was really fleshed out, or being villainous was recognised.

As much as I like the new loot system found in Shame, and see its potential to allow new players to join us veterans fairly quickly, it is not the "hook" that will keep people playing for years. It also will lose the blush from its petals, and in its wake crafting will be more aggrieved than ever before, and the monsters you killed, and the rewards you earned through hours of play will be set on a shelf to look pretty so you can say to the few friends that come to your house "Remember when having this piece of equipment or that meant something?", or "Hey that Stygian Dragon(or Travesty, or Paroxysmous) sure was fun, wanna go do that?" To be queried as to the point of the endeavor. *shrug*

Far more than I am interested in any remake or, God help us, reboot-imagining of the available online Ultima world, I remain convinced that the world we play in could be made amazing. But not if our sole concern is bi-annual expansions and publishing deadlines. Someone needs to be at the helm looking way out in front of the ship and charting a course that makes a visionary destination a reality, a little bit at a time. Give us stuff, Yes! But stuff that makes a house feel like our home, and gives meaning to what we have done or will do. I see so much that could be done, but we are standing on our own feet in so many ways. I do not envy Jeff his job, but I do envy the potential.

Like any secret society, rumors continued to exist of shadowy successor societies.

Anyway, it's interesting to see RG contradict himself so badly.

PvP in UO was completely unlike what he imagined it to be, and now he wants to force it on people the way he was aghast of when it spontaneously occurred in UO? Sorry, no dice.

And, while he specifically prohibited elves, he allowed orcs while part of the UO team from the get-go, that are FAR more Tolkienesque than the elves that appeared years after he left. The origin of the word "orc" as a monster was not in a monster of the wilds & wastes, but of the seashore (perhaps more akin to origins of the creatures that inspired the Deep Ones of the Lovecraftian Mythos). Ironically, the orc pirate crews of HS is more closer to the non-Tolkien orcs than the version he used.

I personally liked AoS, SE and ML BECAUSE they embraced the world of Ultima I & III, not the later, often too preachy, Ultimas. RG, you can't void the roots of your creation in a design in a desire to be more "ultimate", any more than a mule can deny its donkey parent.

Stratics Veteran

Well it states pretty plainly that at this time EA still won't have anything to do with RG or allow him to use Brittannia or anything UO.

I'm curious about this though... If RG starts a new "Ultima" type game how many here would go try it?

I would.

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You know, Apple was sucking wind pretty badly when Steve Jobs re-entered the picture. It would be worth Richard's while to note that Steve re-entered Apple via producing another product line, successful in its own right, and valuable as a means for growing Apples core. Its also worth noting that Steve created all the time, and that RG can and Steve could have introduced ground breaking products without the labels that defined their beginnings. I think Steve really wanted Apple back, and he found ways to make it happen. The players can not "give" RG anything that would have real value tomorrow.

Now I wish I could still build in the previous world of Old Britannia. Yet until the powers at Electronic Arts see the wisdom of such a collaboration (some there do, and player pressure could help), I must plan to rebuild in a New Britannia. While in some ways it will mean I have more work to do (and you will have to wait longer to see that new world), the truth is I have lived in that world for more than 20 of my 35 years in game development, rebuilt many new worlds and look forward to the challenge of crafting this newest reality.

[/I]

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Who is the person we send letters to? I am sure there are a few on here like myself that would like to help get this done. So where do we start?

Stratics Veteran

RG is a pioneer. He created a really amazing game. When I bought my first used commodore 64 and stayed up nights playing Phantasy star, I dreamed of a game where my buddies could all log in and we could play a D&D type game together. When I first logged into Ultima online I was really blown away.

I would love to see RG return. But there are a few game mechanics in place that I would miss if they were removed. I think Necromancers, Samurai, and ninjas are all fun and some real work went into putting them in the game.

Ultima online has had more years without RG than it has with him. There are a lot of things that have been developed that should not be removed, just because they were done in his absence. If the game was just left as RG left it with nothing new added, I believe it would still be huffing along, but very boring. You can only make so many combinations with GM weapons and armor and the original skills.

Who is the person we send letters to? I am sure there are a few on here like myself that would like to help get this done. So where do we start?

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I'm in if we can figure out where to start.

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count me in as well...

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My characters have been waiting patiently (with fading hope) for the return of the King, but he has been absent for so long... surely he has changed over the years. Will we recognize him if he returns? Or more important, will we love him?

Stratics Veteran

My characters have been waiting patiently (with fading hope) for the return of the King, but he has been absent for so long... surely he has changed over the years. Will we recognize him if he returns? Or more important, will we love him?

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It wouldnt matter if I could recognize him. The rightful and proper king would be in place. As for would we citizens love the king again? We all know in our hearts we would.

Stratics Veteran

Much as when King Richard on Holy Crusade left Long-champs Regent of England, only to have John the Usurper arise, Lord British departed His beloved Sosaria to protect and defend His people only to have Usurpers torture and abuse the people.

It is time for Our Liege-Lord and King to Return. It is time for EA to allow Him to Return and try to again Lead Britainnia to new heights.

Let us ALL do our part in calling for and supporting His Return!

Otherwise many will depart Sosaria and seek our Lord British elsewhere!!!

Stratics VeteranAlumniStratics Legend

From my take on reading that, RG would "like" to work with EA again but in their eyes and his it wont happen.

He seems more focused on making an "Ultimate" game where he has control. Since he didnt have it with TR and lost it with UO I think he would be much happier where he is now.

Plus with the fiasco over the big $$$$$ loss with TR and NcSoft I highly doubt (just my opinion as a reminder) that EA would even consider treading waters with RG.

Then read closely of things he said where he would of not put into UO.

What would that do to the current player base if he did step back in and took out ninjas and elves?

Scrap ML?

Scrap SE?

How much of the current content would he try to fix to make it the world he would want?

How far would he go back to make the game move forward?

In no way am I downing or criticizing Jeff out new producer but with his role as the "Franchise Producer" where does he actually get time to dedicate it just to UO? Our previous producers time was 100% about UO but Jeff's role/position covers more then that. Not just UO only.

So would RG be better for UO? Would Jeff's role be better for UO?

Many questions that could be answered or never answered and we cant dwell on the "what ifs."

From my take on reading that, RG would "like" to work with EA again but in their eyes and his it wont happen.

He seems more focused on making an "Ultimate" game where he has control. Since he didnt have it with TR and lost it with UO I think he would be much happier where he is now.

Plus with the fiasco over the big $$$$$ loss with TR and NcSoft I highly doubt (just my opinion as a reminder) that EA would even consider treading waters with RG.

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That's my feeling - RG would want more control and budget than EA would allow.

Plus RG does not want to mess with a single-player Ultima or UO itself - he's after something Facebook related. He's spent the last two years telling everybody that Facebook/mobile/social gaming is where it's at. He is not going to do that and then step backwards into an MMORPG like UO.

He wants to use Ultima property for his new project, it's as simple as that.

Plus, at this point in time, it would be far simpler for RG to build something from the ground up than take an existing product and try to "fix" the problems in his eyes. The time for doing that was around UO2 - personally I've thought they should have tried to update UO back around then rather than work on UO and UO2 side-by-side.

...RG does not want to mess with a single-player Ultima or UO itself - he's after something Facebook related. He's spent the last two years telling everybody that Facebook/mobile/social gaming is where it's at. He is not going to do that and then step backwards into an MMORPG like UO.

Well, RG has always tried to push the technologies available - most of us remember having to upgrade our computers at times to play older Ultimas, and he pushed UO at a time when many of us didn't have broadband, and Ultima IX was one of the first major 3D RPGs, and UO2 might have set the standard for 3D MMORPGs.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Perhaps one day, now that the people who pushed me out of EA more than a decade ago are long since gone, EA will recognize that together, we could rebuild that franchise in a way that they have failed to do in the intervening years. Richard Garriott is an essential ingredient in the Ultimate Ultima!

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Yeah they are gone. A friend of mine called the president of EA games last week and gave him an ear full over this billing system they got. The president of EA games didn't even know what Ultima was.

Richard sounds angry talking as the third person it shows he can not give his personal feelings on the matter. He will want no part of UO. if he succeeds will be the end of an era for Ultima On line as we know it today.

Since my story was intended to be the story of YOUR PERSONAL evolution as a person, it was important that you were you, not someone else! Fiction supporting your journey from Earth to the new world is part of The Ultimate RPG.

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Ah lets see... I cannot be me, cause I'm not PG-13...

its a game where 95% of players are over 18, yet we're a kids game.

Not only that, some roles have become politicall incorrect (*cough*)...

and thus my moral character is compressed from both sides (community and other side of veil)...

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